Putting college graduation dates on a resume

Putting college graduation dates on a resume is more of a judgment call than something you should do or shouldn't do.

When I'm debating whether I want to add a graduation date, I ask myself the following:

1. Has the job seeker been out of school for 10 years or less? If yes, it might make sense to include the date. I might want to show continuity in the timeline from graduation to starting a first job. Or maybe I want to show that the education was recent enough that the skills/training/learning acquired would provide competitiveness or modern-day applicability to the job seeker.

2. Has the job seeker been out of school for longer than 10 years? If yes, then I might want to exclude the date and place my focus on the school itself, the degree, and any special distinctions that might draw the eye of the reader.

3. What if the application requires a date to be included? In situations like these, my philosophy is to always be truthful and type the correct date. You can continue to leave the date off the resume; doing so can subtly signal to the hiring decision-maker that you don't want the date taken into consideration during their qualification process.

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